diy flour tortillas.

last night we wanted quesadillas and i thought were were out of tortillas.  of course i found them when it was too late.
but the homemade ones were 4 million times better than store bought so it was worth it.

anyway, i whipped up annie's flour tortilla recipe. they were amazing and easy easy.

my last one turned out pretty close to round.

next step is getting a tortilla press to make them perfectly round. found one at williams sonoma, but the reviews aren't too great. anyone have one??

the girl creative

homemade spaghetti sauce.

i was looking through our pantry and seeing that we had an insane amount of canned tomatoes. 

i have no clue why...so i was set out to find a way to use some.

can't go wrong with a paula deen recipe.

this is her baked spaghetti recipe, complete with a homemade sauce.

my mouth was watering by the time the sauce finished, it made our house smell fantastic.

even though it takes a little bit it was worth every minute.

i can check that off my cooking bucket list [and probably never buy it from the store again...]

what's one thing you can make better than buy from the store?

Just Something I Whipped Up

brownie peanut butter cups

found this recipe off pinterest (big shocker) and knew i wanted to make them as soon as possible. and i actually ended up making them (even more of a shocker...)
they are simple, yet fantastic.

that's all you need. well, plus the ingredients the boxed brownie mix requires.

i'm in love with these bad boys.

1. make brownies according to instructions on the box. bake in greased mini muffin pan 13-15 minutes at 350.

2. before cooling push tops down with measuring spoon.

3. heat 3/4 cup of peanut butter in microwave until smooth.

4. spoon 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter in each brownie

5. top with chocolate chips or other desired topping.

6. chill in fridge to make it easier to get out of pan.

The Idea Room

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Sunday Showcase

cheesy chicken bake.

i found this recipe for cheesy chicken bake and made a few changes for our family.

yummy and fairly easy dinner.

ingredients:

6 tbsp. butter

salt and pepper

3/4 pound penne pasta (i used wheat)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (next time i would just use leftover chicken and add more)

1/2 cup flour

5 garlic cloves, crushed

4 cups milk

1/2 cup broccoli heads

1 1/2 cup shredded italian cheese

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x13 glass pan with cooking spray.

2. Cook pasta short of al dente.

3. Pan cook chicken with desired spices. Add broccoli a few minutes before the chicken is finished.

4. In large pot, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking continually, gradually add milk; bring to a summer. Keep whisking frequently as sauce thickens. Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in italian and parmesan cheese.

5. Add chicken and broccoli to pot, season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour into baking dish.

6. Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbly...about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

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Weekend Reading.

Ta-Da Tuesday

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frappucino.

this weekend i was killing time on foodgawker [which is like pinterest for food blogs aka: torture] and found this recipe for a skinny caramel frappucino. upon reading this recipe i jumped out of bed to go freeze a tray of "milk cubes".

so worth it. this was a great treat and even justin enjoyed it. i tweaked the recipe with what we had...in the end i added two splendas to sweeten it up.

which leads me to show you what justin calls "the best idea i have ever had" [he doesn't exaggerate at all...]

COFFEE CUBES!

i pour the leftover coffee in an ice tray. justin likes his coffee cool so he gets two cubes each morning.

i posted a similar recipe before, but like this one better!

fruit dip.

i had some friends over this week and wanted to have a little treat for them. so i picked up some fresh fruit and make this fantastic fruit dip!

the recipe is super easy too:

8oz. frozen whipped topping

7oz. marshmallow fluff

8 oz. cream cheese

vanilla extract (maybe about 1 teaspoon or so)

then mix them all together. i used my hand mixer and it turned out perfectly.

i got my fruit from the grocery store, but i am so excited to go to the farmer's market soon. i just have to mentally prepare myself for an early morning...not sure if i am ready for that :)

Linking up to:

Serenity Now Blog

pizza pizza

a couple days ago, i found some public dough in the back of our freezer. doesn't that sound lovely...

anyway, i decided to make pizza for us. i made two separate pizzas, one for him and his boring simple taste and one for me and my taste.

then, i stumbled on this recipe for buffalo chicken pizza and i knew he would love it. however, the chicken i cooked for his pizza turned out nast-y. so his ended up being boring simple pepperoni pizza. but he still thought it was tasty, so it all worked out!

for my pizza, i wanted something a little more fancy. i decided to go with pioneer woman's version of cpk's bbq chicken pizza. fantastic decision if i do say so myself. 

very tasty dinners for us both.

next step, making the pizza dough myself. maybe...

sour cream enchiladas

after seeing sour cream enchiladas on a couple blogs recently, i knew justin and i would love them.

i copied pioneer woman's technique of frying the tortilla, then dunking it in enchilada sauce. then put a spoonful of the sour cream mixture and rolled it up.

sour cream mixture:
16 oz. container sour cream
3 large chicken breasts [pan-cooked with onions and garlic]
1/4 green pepper
2 tbsp. chopped jalapenos
1 tsp. taco seasoning [or whatever spices you want]
3/4 cup of cheese [i used mexican shredded cheese]
i would have loved to put corn and black beans too...but we were out of both of them.

once rolled and placed in greased 8x8 dish, cover with extra enchilada sauce and additional cheese.

bake in 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. ours were very mild, but the good thing is that you can change it up to suit your taste and they are fantastic leftover also!

date night

we had a fantastic valentine's afternoon.
last night we made our favorite recipe to make together, calzones! my family found this recipe years and years ago and always enjoy making it together.

no need to make your own dough, just get some from the publix deli or your favorite pizzeria (unless you are really good at it, i haven't mastered that yet...)

first start with making the ricotta mixture.
small container of ricotta (currently blanking on the size)
10 oz. frozen spinach, drained (or you could always use fresh!)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
italian seasoning and oregano, however much you like
3 garlic cloves

preheat the oven to 425 before starting with the dough

each publix dough can make three good-sized calzones. since it was a holiday, we made two huge ones :)

then spoon about 1/4 cup of the ricotta mixture and lots of mozzarella cheese plus whatever toppings you want. i put green peppers and onions while justin is boring simple and wanted just pepperoni.

then fold over and pinch the seams so that it looks like this...

then bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. or until you can control yourself because it smells so amazing. the toughest part is judging who's looks best...

justin's?

or mine?

thought you would agree...mine was precious and delish.

oh and justin wanted me to take an artistic picture of his calzone over the roses...why not share it?!?

homemade cinnamon bread

this recipe has been taunting me since i printed it out a couple weeks ago.

pioneer woman's homemade cinnamon bread.

it was seriously worth every second of the 4 hours you have to wait for it to rise.
my pictures don't do it justice, it gets dark here before 5:30. not fun.

ingredients:

1 cup milk

6 tbsp. butter

2 1/2 tsp. dry yeast [one small packet]

2 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

3 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp. cinnamon

Melt butter with milk. Heat until warm, but don't boil. Cool a little bit, then sprinkle yeast and gently stir. Sit for 10 minutes.

In bowl of mixer, mix sugar and eggs with paddle attachment until combined. Pour in milk/butter mixture and stir to combine. Add flour and salt and beat on medium until combined. 

Switch to dough hook and beat/knead on medium speed for 10 minutes. If dough is too sticky, add 1/4 cup flour and beat another 5 minutes.

Heat glass bowl [i microwaved for 1.5 minutes] and drizzle in a little bit of veggie oil. Toss dough in oil and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

[i turned on the oven at 200 degrees for a few minutes, then turned it off. put the dough in the oven to rise...so it is a little bit warm, since it is freezing in our apartment]

Turn dough on counter and roll into rectangle. Smear dough with about 2 tbsp. butter. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle evenly over the dough.

Roll the dough tightly and put in buttered pan. Cover and let rise for another 2 hours.

Finally you get to bake it.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 40 minutes. Check it to make sure the top doesn't get too dark.

Great decision, you need to try this!

oven roasted potatoes

we love these potatoes at our house. justin even calls them gourmet, which cracks me up. they are super simple...the hardest part is waiting while they cook.

take 2 potatoes per person and slice them into wedges.

coat in olive oil and desired spices. [i used salt, pepper, italian seasoning and roasted garlic seasoning]

line baking sheet with foil, them grease the foil. some might stick, but they are still good.

bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

shake 'em around and bake for another 10-15.

and there you go. gourmet potatoes :)

chocolate chip bars

i made these little bars for a dinner we had this week for some of the student leaders in our ministry. they were so moist! i unfortunately was in a hurry while cooking and didn't take any pictures...not even of the end result. so go over to Mel's Kitchen Cafe and make those chocolate chip bars. you won't be disappointed!

broccoli cheese soup

unfortunately winter has hit home. in my opinion, it has been way too cold outside. i found a recipe for broccoli cheese soup and knew it was a must for dinner last night.

ingredients:

10 oz. frozen chopped broccoli

2 cups chicken broth

2 tbsp. butter

1/3 cup chopped onions

2 tbsp. flour

2/3 cup milk

1 cup cheddar cheese (we ran out, so i also used a 4 cheese blend)

salt and pepper to taste

Simmer frozen broccoli and chicken broth over medium heat for about 15 minutes. I used a muddler to smash the broccoli. Next time I would like to run it through a blender to get a more consistent soup...or one of those immersion blenders would work perf.

In another pan, melt the butter and saute the onions for 5 minutes. Add the flour to the onions and stir, it will look like a pasty substance. Then stir in the milk until thick. Add to broccoli and stir well.

Add cheese and stir until melted, this step is pretty quick! Season with salt and pepper.

yummy. i recently made potato soup...which is another good winter option!